Five minutes with Amazing Spaces star George Clarke

The architect who found TV fame on Channel 4's The Restoration Man and Amazing Spaces talks about his role in the upcoming Ideal Home Show, his views on solving the current housing shortage, and why he does like to be beside the seaside

What will you be doing at the Ideal Home Show?

I’ll be doing everything from opening it, to doing talks and seminars in the home improvement area, which is the area I focus on quite a lot. The show homes are my main area as well, and they’re a huge draw for the crowds. I’m always staggered by the queues to be honest; it’s great how many people want to get in and see what’s new in the property sector.

And you’re involved with a new concept, the multi-generational home?

It’s a key issue these days. I’m passionate about multi-functional homes and multi-generation home, because quite often houses can be quite ordinary and boxy, but we’ve proven during Amazing Spaces that nowhere has to be ordinary at all. We’re living in a unique time, the housing crisis is probably the worst it’s ever been in terms of demand and the type of housing available, and I think the multi-generation home is one way we can tackle that.

Is it right to say it’s a ‘kit’ home – built off-site and assembled later? Do you think that’s the future for house building?

Yes. This is my personal view, but I think the housing industry is miles behind where it should be in terms of technology. You only have to look at other industries like cars, telecommunications, product design... So many things are now factory built to a very, very high specification and quality control, then sold and used very quickly.

Is the cost the reason why it hasn’t taken off?

Well, it’s expensive because we haven’t started doing it. It’s like any product, once it’s taken off, it comes down in price. The industry as a whole, and the government, need to get together to get the factories set up, and that takes a huge amount of investment. We can’t say ‘that’s too expensive so we won’t bother’. At the moment everything is a short-term fix. It’s like sticking a plaster on a broken leg. We have to do much more over a longer period of time.

You always seem so busy – do you get much time to work on your own projects?

Yeah, I do. People assume that when you’re a TV presenter, you don’t have any other sort of job. But for me, first and foremost I’m an architect, a builder and a developer – that’s what I love doing. So I’ve still got my architecture practice, my building company and my development company. All it means is I work all the time

Do you have a dream project?

Selfishly, it would be building my dream house. It would probably be somewhere a bit warmer, and it would be by the sea.

George Clarke is one of the ambassadors of this year’s Ideal Home Show taking place until March 30 in Earl’s Court, London. For details: www.idealhomeshow.co.uk